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Sunday, August 29, 2010

For decades, one of the highlights of driving to central Canada from my home in Nova Scotia occurred when I neared Montreal. There, in the overwhelmingly flat landscape of the St. Lawrence lowlands, rises a massive hill - mountain really - that appears to spring directly out of the soil as if by surprise. There are no foothills, the gradually hightening terrain that preceeds the Rocky Mountains, surrounding Mont Saint Hilaire. Instead it, and the other Monteregian Hills appear to thrust out of the fertile plains without warning or explanation.

So it was with genuine pleasure, and a great deal of anticipation, that I recently hiked the trails on Mont Saint-Hilaire maintained by the Gault Nature Reserve. This extensive network of walking paths, developed in order to celebrate and protect the distinctive natural qualities of this UNESCO Biosphere Reserve - Canada's first landscape so designated - enables hikers to climb to the peak of several hilltops, and to enjoy breath-taking views of the surrounding lowlands.

There are many wonderful trails that will be featured in the upcoming Hiking Trails of Montreal, but in my opinion, the route on Mont Saint-Hilaire will be one of the highlights.

1 comment:

Hoda
said...

Hi Michael,Great blog... truly enjoyed reading your posts. We do a lot of hiking around Montréal and many of the trial you have tried are also our favourites.One suggestion is to include a Fall/Winter hiking guide in your book to help readers in choosing the right treks for Fall/Winter hikes (mostly with regards to treks’ condition when it rains or snows)Thank you,Hoda

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About Me

Michael is the Director of TransActive Solutions, a company working for Canadian communities to help them become more walkable, bikeable, and otherwise friendly to human-powered modes of travel. He is the former National Active Transportation Coordinator for Go for Green and Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Trails Federation.

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Visitors to Hiking Trails of Montréal Blog

Hiking Trails of Montréal (HTM) is a blog connected directly with the book of the same name written by Michael Haynes and scheduled to be published by Goose Lane Editions in April 2013. HTM will be written in English.

The purpose of this blog is to make updates and corrections to published route descriptions and provide additional information that could not be included in the print edition. Users of HTM are encouraged to make comments about their experiences.

Hiking Trails of Montréal is currently in its planning stages, with fieldwork scheduled to begin in the spring of 2010.

If you have any suggestions for trails that should be included in this book, please let me know using the "Comment" function. I will consider every idea.

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Hiking Trails of Canada Hiking Guidebooks

Hiking Trails of Montréal is one of a series of Canadian trail guidebooks available from Goose Lane Editions. For more information on the series, go to: Goose Lane.